Midterm Exam Flashcards
Who was Raphael Lemkin?
Jewish scholar who coined the term “genocide” and advised the US during the Nuremberg Trials
What was Lemkin’s definition of genocide?
A coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the
aim of annihilating the groups themselves
What were Lemkin’s 2 stages of genocide?
- Destruction of the “national pattern” of the target group
- Imposition of the “national pattern” of the oppressor on the target group or on the target group’s territory after removal/colonization
What is the UN’s definition of genocide?
- Lethal and/or non-lethal acts
- Committed intentionally against members of, and for the purpose of completely or partially destroying
- a racial, ethnic, national, or religious group
What are lethal acts under the UN’s genocide definition?
direct or indirect killing
What are nonlethal acts under the UN’s genocide definition?
causing serious physical or mental harm; forced removal of children; prevention of births
Name three criticisms of the UN definition of genocide.
- Culpability standard should be lower. Shouldn’t need specific intent, just general intent
- Protected groups are defined too narrowly
- Underlying acts are defined too broadly
What is the legal definition of a crime against humanity?
- Any of the following acts: murder, extermination; enslavement; forced relocation/deportation; imprisonment; torture; rape and sexual assault; persecution of a group on a political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, or gender grounds; enforced disappearance of persons; apartheid; or other inhumane acts of a similar nature
- committed intentionally (doesn’t require specific intent)
- as part of a widespread or systematic attack
- against any civilian population
What is politicide?
when political groups are targeted
What is sociocide/classicide?
when economic groups are targeted
What is eliticide?
when elites are targeted
What is gendercide?
when specific genders are targeted; usually includes murder for men and sexual assault for women
What is ethnocide?
cultural genocide
What is ethnic cleansing?
when an ethnic group is removed from a territory
What is democide?
any mass murder by the state
What was Condorcet’s conceptual contribution to the 17th and 18th centuries?
Concept of unlimited progress; idea that with work, humans could continuously improve the world around them and their species
What is eugenics?
good growing, infused with racial thinking and scientific racism; state is responsible for “landscaping the human garden”
Describe the characteristics of a utopia under a totalitarian regime.
Primacy of ideology over reality
Us vs. them worldview
Promises scientific solution to “problems” and the transcendence and fusion of major social groups
Requires a revolutionary party, a unitary state, submission of the individual to the collective, revolution and war
Ends justify the means
What was the impact of World War 1 on genocide?
Devaluation of human life
Normalization of mass violence
Expanded central role of the state
Imperial collapse led to the trauma of loss, scapegoating of internal enemies, and demographic homogenization to promote stability
“Confirmed” the failure of liberalism, opened the door for radical alternatives
What were the causes of death during the genocide of indigenous people in the United States?
disease, warfare, forced relocations, destruction of Indian ways of life, and massacres/genocide
Describe the differences between the Spanish and French approaches to colonization.
The Spanish took an enslavement approach and established the encomienda system between 1492 and the 17th cent. They were criticized by Bartolome de las Casas for violent abuses of power. There was conflict between the crown’s law and the colonists’ practice.
The French cooperated with the indigenous people and recognized Iroquois sovereignty.
Describe the ways of solving the “Indian problem” in the US.
Expropriation, ethnocide, forced relocation, enslavement, war, and genocide; assimilation didn’t offer protection
List two of the forced relocation campaigns during the indigenous peoples’ genocide.
Trail of Tears and Indian Removal Act
Describe the Dawes Severalty Act.
Authorized US to break up reservation land into small allotments, parceled out to individuals rather than communities; used to conquer and divide
What was Friedrich Ratzel’s contribution to genocidal ideology?
He was a German scholar who believed in the concept of “living space.” He thought a people needed extra space to spread out to progress. This thought directly contributed to the Herero genocide and the Holocaust.
Describe the two phases of the Herero genocide.
- Herero rebellion was quelled by Governor Leutwein. However, the Germans wanted the rest of the land and shared propaganda about the Herero being inhuman. He was replaced by General Lothar von Trotha, who shared an annihilation order for a root-and-branch genocide. This order led to massacres at Waterburg Plateau.
- Enslavement of survivors and of the Nama people; inclusion of Shark Island, a death camp
Who was Eugen Fischer and what did he contribute to genocide?
A German eugenicist scholar who promoted the scientific inhumanity of the Herero people and, later, was cited during the Holocaust
What is the inevitable conclusion of settler colonialism?
the creation of a genocidal society
During colonization, what are the two main conflicts?
Colonialists vs. indigenous people
Colonialists vs. imperial center
What were Turkish nationalism’s main influences?
European racial theories and German ethnic nationalism
What was the main vehicle of Turkish nationalism?
The Committee of Union and Progress
What were the three aspirations behind Turkish nationalism?
economic and political modernization
dominance of ethnic Turks
avoidance of further partitioning
What political insurgency set the stage major reforms in the Ottoman Empire before the Armenian genocide?
Young Turk Revolution in 1908
Was the Young Turk Revolution supported by the Armenians?
Yes, it was supported by many including the Armenians. It was thought it would usher in equality and greater autonomy.
What were the reforms after the Young Turk Revolution?
establishment of a constitutional monarchy
multi-party politics, dominated by ethnicity (CUP as largest party, with explicitly ethnic parties)
What derailed the reforms after the Young Turk Revolution?
Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913
What triggered the coup of 1913 in the Ottoman Empire?
Balkan League states wanted Ottoman territory.
The Ottomans were defeated in the Balkan Wars of 1912-13.
What was the outcome of the coup of 1913 in the Ottoman Empire?
The empire lost most of its remaining European territory.
Widespread ethnic cleansing of Muslims
What was the impact of the Ottoman Empire losing the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 and the subsequent coup?
Radicalization of Turkish nationalists
Seizure of power by Enver, Talaat, and Djemal
What was the main goal of the new regime under Enver, Talaat, and Djemal after the coup of 1913?
Creation of a “Turkey for the Turks”
What did World War 1 represent for the CUP in power?
a golden opportunity to implement a final solution against the Armenians, to “liquidate its internal foes”
What was the trigger for plan laying for the ethnic cleansing of the Christians in the Ottoman Empire?
Russian partition plan in February 1914
Who was the first target for ethnic cleansing of Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire?
Greek Orthodox population
Who were the instigators of the Armenian genocide?
Enver, Talaat, and Djemal
What was the trigger of the Armenian genocide?
Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Sarakamis
What were the goals of the final solution to the Armenian Problem?
5-10% rule - only 5-10% of the pop. in a geographic region can be Armenians (hoped small amount would assimilate eventually)
Establishment of a Muslim bourgeoisie overnight
Cultural genocide
What were the instruments of the Armenian genocide?
CUP’s Special Organization (led by Dr. Behaeddin Sakir)
Irregular army militias
Gendarmes
Local Muslim civilians
What were the stages of the Armenian genocide?
- Disarming of Armenian soldiers
- Final decision for genocide
- Eliticide
- Gendercide of Armenian soldiers
- Root-and-branch genocide
- Expropriation and transfer of Armenian property
- Western provinces purged after Armenian provinces
What was the Armenian resistance uprising?
the Van uprising
What was the outcome of the Armenian genocide?
Goal was achieved
Killed 1 million Armenians
Survivors are spread through the global Armenian diaspora
What did disarmed Armenian soldiers do?
They were forced to build infrastructure in horrible conditions.
How did Stalin want to organize the USSR?
Wanted to create national republics; believed empires were inherently oppressive and that major national minorities should have identities and power within the context of the communist system
Who were the instigators of mass violence in the USSR?
Stalin, Molotov, and Kaganovich
How did Marx think a communist revolution would occur? How did Lenin think a communist revolution would occur?
Marx thought social democratic systems within industrialized nations would rebel first.
Lenin believed German social democrats betrayed Marx’s ideals and that a socialist revolutionary party was necessary
